LIST OF PANELS

The panel takes stock of the implementation issues of green fiscal reforms (GFR) as a public policy approach to reduce environmental externalities, increase employment, stimulate technological and social innovation, and help fiscal consolidation at the macro scale (countries, economic regions). A specific focus is the possible employment effects of GFR and their interactions with employment policies. The papers will address these issues at the national or supranational level, with a specific attention to the barriers and opportunities emerging in the policy-making process. Specific topics will be the following: Macro-economic and macro-social implications of GFR Fiscal consolidation and GFR Expected employment effects of GFR and employment policies Institutional and policy-making barriers to merging GFR and employment policies Equity and income-distribution issues of GFR, in particular for households Economic, environmental and employment benefits from GFR Industrial stakeholders, lobbying and the policy-making process of GFR GFR and technological, organisational, and social innovation Papers can encompass different disciplinary perspectives, from economics to political and social sciences, and can present results emerging from different knowledge experiences, from academic research to policy-making advisory at the international and national level. A desirable attribute of the papers is the combination of analytical rigour and easy communicability of results to decision makers.

Starting from the theory of externalities and public goods, the application of fiscal and market-based instruments (e.g. emission trading) has gained momentum in the last few decades as a cost efficient approach to environmental policies. The application of these instruments in real specific environmental policies presents a picture of both successes and disappointments. However, starting from the Delors’ proposals of the early 1990s, in some national experiences these policy instruments have been framed within broader ‘green fiscal reforms’ (GFR)[1] based on switching taxation from labour to the environment in search for a ‘double dividend’ - reducing pollution and increasing employment. Only a few European countries implemented organically designed and fully consistent GFR because of the difficulties of optimal policy design and because re-distributional issues raised by GFR stimulated the opposition of specific stakeholders capable to block the policy decision-making process. This notwithstanding, the Annual Growth Survey 2014 of the EU Commission calls for redesigning the taxation structures by “shifting the tax burden away from labour on to taxes bases linked to consumption, property, and combating pollution” (EC, 2013). The IMF (International Monetary Fund) concludes that “carbon taxation may help the budget while at the same time addressing efficiency concerns” (Baldacci et al., 2010) and it is proposing specific taxation rates to address energy-related externalities (http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/survey/so/2014/POL073114A.htm). In its study on environmental taxation, the OECD (2012) concluded that environmental taxes are an important part of fiscal consolidation programmes from both an efficiency and revenue-raising perspective. OECD and EEA (European Environment Agency) are cooperating for stimulating European governments to take into consideration GFR. The tension between these high-level policy prescriptions and slow adoption of GFR by countries is the main focus of the panel. [1] Also defined as ‘Ecological Tax Reform’ or ‘Environmental Tax Reform’ (ETR).